Volvo Delivers India's First Hybrid Bus to Navi Mumbai

The event saw Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven give a symbolic key to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, whereas Volvo Buses signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Navi Mumbai and Thane Municipal Corporations, where the buses will ply. A first-of-its-kind initiative, the state has purchased five hybrid buses from Volvo which are being locally assembled at the manufacturer's facility in Bengaluru and have been certified by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

Talking about the model in question, the hybrid bus is a variant of the Volvo 8400 City Bus with over 1500 units of the same plying in over 34 cities across the country. The hybrid version uses a 5.0-litre, in-line 4-cylinder diesel engine coupled with a powerful electric motor tuned to cumulatively produce 160hp of power and helps reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The hybrid uses electric power for most supplementary functions including air conditioning, automatic bus doors, and takes off on electric mode after starting on diesel till speeds up to 15 km/hr; that is, until the bus has gained momentum. This phenomenon happens at every stop and start during the operation cycle.

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This, in turn, allows the Volvo Hybrid bus to consume 25-30 per cent lower fuel over the standard model, while the company promises up to 50 per cent reduction in emissions. In order to achieve better gains over the long term, the Swedish bus maker will also provide the Volvo I-Coaching driver training programme that spans over five days and trains a minimum of 3 drivers in a bid to make them understand the technology and improve their skills to achieve a higher fuel efficiency figure. The technology has also helped the company get improved NVH levels on the bus and the telematics system with fleet and vehicle management capabilities monitors and generates fuel reports, vehicle health reports, specific battery usage and health monitoring feature.

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The Volvo 8400 Hybrid Bus also complies with the central government's Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric and hybrid vehicle (FAME) scheme that has helped provide a subsidy of Rs. 61 lakh on the total cost of Rs. 2.3 crore. Operations are set to commence from March this year; however, fares for travelling in these buses have not been revealed yet. Apart from Navi Mumbai, Volvo is in talks with other cities as well to employ the buses with Bengaluru being at the forefront. While the pricing may seem high, improved production levels will see the company achieve higher economies of scale, thereby reducing overall costs. The Bengaluru facility can be assemble up to 1500 buses per year.

Carandbike.com also got a chance to speak with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about the new Volvo hybrid buses and he said that the buses were one of the initiatives taken by the government to ensure pollution control, in addition to solid waste management and building of special corridors. When asked about when the hybrid buses will be part of the transportation fleet in Mumbai, he stated that plans are in place but a timeline has not been finalized.